John Vincent Atanasoff

by Irene Y. Kim

URL:

http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Atanasoff.html

Topic:

John Vincent Atanasoff

Year:

1937-42

Summary composer:

Irene Y. Kim Click here for searching strategies

100 Word Summary:

John Vincent Atanasoff was the first to build the electronic digital computer. Born on October 4, 1903 in Hamilton, New York, he graduated from University of Florida in 1925. Atanasoff became associate professor of Iowa State College in 1936 where he built the prototype to the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) with his graduate assistant, Clifford Berry in the years 1939-42. But the computer was never fully finished due to the onset of World War II. The ABC featured about 300 vacuum tubes for control and arithmetic calculations; use of binary numbers; logic operations (instead of direct counting); memory capacitors; and punched cards as input/output units. The computer was important because it was the first to use electronic means to manipulate binary numbers and several comcepts of Atanasoff are still relevant to day. Due to miscrediting, Atanasoff wasn't recognized for his invention until 1973. He was the recipient in 1981 of the Computer Pioneer Medal and was honored in 1990 with the Nationa Medal of Technology. Atanasoff died on June 15, 1995.

Bibliography:

Britannica On-Line (1996).John Vincent Atansoff. [WWW document].URL http://www.eb.com:180/cgibin/g?keywords=John+Vincent+Atanasoff&DBase=Articles&hits=10&context=all Hien Chris Do. (1996, october 9). John Vincent Atanasoff. URL http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Atanasoff.html

Dictionary Terms:

binary numbers: designating or or of a number system in which the base used is two, each number being expressed in powers of two by using only tow digits, specif. 0 and 1